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Carnival to offer Alipay onboard Asian fleet

June 1, 2017

Carnival Corp. has signed an agreement to offer Alipay payment services onboard its cruise ship fleet in Asia, including multiple ships in China.

As part of this agreement, Carnival's first and largest brand in China — Costa Cruises — will give passengers the option to use their existing Alipay account as a payment method for cabin folios. All onboard spending — including shopping, activities, excursions, food and drinks — will be added to each guest's cabin folio as the purchase is made, and then cleared on a nightly basis via their Alipay account.

Alipay will debut on Costa Serena in China starting in 2017 before potentially expanding to additional ships in the Costa Asia fleet, including Costa Atlantica, Costa Victoria and Costa Fortuna in China, and Costa neoRomantica, which has been homeported in Japan since April of this year.

Based on the terms of the agreement, Carnival's other leading brand in Asia, Princess Cruises, will also have the potential to offer Alipay onboard its ships, including the new Majestic Princess. Details of future rollout plans may be released at a later date, according to the announcement.